ShareUPDATED Nov. 28 – We’ve heard two stories from two personal friends about their firearms deer hunting in the last two weeks. There is quite a lot of overlap between the caving community and the people who hunt, fish, camp and float like the rest of Traveler readers.
In the first, Gary Hart got a spike [...]

ShareCommentary by Jo Schaper
When the USGS story broke today that they had discovered that the Geomyces destructans fungus caused white nose syndrome in cave dwelling bats, I just yawned.
If you’ve been reading our paper and blog for the last three years, you should know this isn’t news. I’m not a biologist, but I am a [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
It was a glorious day in Perryville on July 9 as 250 people gathered in a former cornfield to mark the dedication of the Lloyd and Ethel Hoff Underground Nature Preserve.
If you are a caver, that long name means one thing: permanent access to Berome Moore Cave. At 18 miles and [...]

ShareROLLA, Mo. — Mark Twain National Forest will continue to keep its caves closed to the public through April 2016.
Geomyces destructans, the fungus responsible for White Nose Syndrome, was detected at two sites in Missouri in the spring of 2010. White Nose Syndrome has not yet been confirmed in the state.
Mark Twain National Forest [...]

ShareIn two news articles released yesterday, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks updated their news about cave access in state parks for 2011.
by Jo Schaper
Most of the news is good.
First of all, Onondaga Cave, at Onondaga Cave State Park will be open for regular tourists starting this Saturday, April 15. [...]

ShareIt’s not been a good couple of years for cave enthusiasts, both dedicated amateurs and casual visitors.
by Jo Schaper
The United States Forest Service closed their wild caves to casual visitation in 2009. Last year, with the discovery of two suspected cases of white nose syndrome, a fungal infection, in Missouri bats — [...]

ShareThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be accepting comments on a draft national management plan for white nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease fatal to most cave dwelling bats. The draft plan was issued Oct. 27, and the agency will be accepting comments until December 26.
WNS has shut down recreational caving on most state [...]

Share I’ve been pretty busy this week, but not too busy to send out attaboys (and one attagirl) to actual friends of mine from the St. Louis metro area who replied to an Internet call for help from total strangers to rescue a prized coonhound trapped in a cave for over two days. The rescue [...]

ShareToday the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources announced that the wild cave closures now in effect will be extended to September 1, and that wild tours of the Devil’s Icebox at Rockbridge Memorial State Park have been cancelled for this fall. Devil’s Icebox is home to federally endangered gray and Indiana bats. At the [...]

ShareI am sending this letter to news organizations and publications that have covered WNS (white nose syndrome, a newly identified fungal and fatal bat disease) in the hopes of presenting a different perspective. I have seen a lot of misinformation going around, especially the statements that humans are a known or probable vector for WNS, [...]